mashfandomcom-20200216-history
Season 4 (M*A*S*H)
The first two episodes of Season 4 of M*A*S*H, "Welcome to Korea", parts 1 and 2 aired on CBS-TV on September 12, 1975; it introduced audiences to B.J. Hunnicutt (Mike Farrell). Harry Morgan, who won an Emmy Award at the beginning of the previous season for his guest role as daffy Major General Bartford Hamilton Steele, introduced the role of Colonel Sherman T. Potter, the 4077th's new Commanding Officer, to TV viewers the very next week in the episode "Change of Command". The final episode, "The Interview", aired February 4, 1976. Both Colonel Sam Flagg and Major Sidney Freedman appear once, in the episode "Quo Vadis, Captain Chandler". Major events *Trapper leaves the 4077th. Wayne Rogers left the show at the end of Season 3. *B.J. Hunnicutt arrives. *Colonel Sherman T. Potter arrives and becomes the commanding officer of the 4077h. *Clete Roberts arrives to interview the 4077th personnel in "The Interview", the only episode in the entire series to be filmed entirely in black and white, and thought by many fans to be the best episode ever. Season 4 (1975-1976): List of Episodes *This table is sortable and can present the episodes either in the order they were broadcast (click on the sort buttons in column "Ep.#") or in the order they were produced (click on the sort buttons in the column "Production No."). *The episodes were not all broadcast in the same order as they were produced. The broadcast order is also the order of episodes in the DVD set. However, syndicated reruns and paid streaming services such as Netflix sometimes follow the production order (e.g. G-501, G-502, G-503....) *Season 4 is where the production order departs significantly from the storyline in the first few episodes. Attempting to watch the season in production order presents serious continuity issues. For example, in G-501 "Change of Command", Potter arrives to take command of the 4077th with B. J. Hunnicutt already in the unit. B. J. also features in G-502 "It Happened One Night" and G-503 "Of Moose and Men". Yet in G-504, the first half-hour episode of the two parter "Welcome to Korea", B. J. is shown arriving in Korea to be received by Hawkeye and Radar and Frank Burns is still in temporary command. In the second part of the two parter, G-506, Potter arrives to take command! And G-505 intervenes between the two parts of "Welcome to Korea" (G-504 and G-506)! *There is nothing sacred about the production order. It does not reflect the order that the screenwriters and producers intended the episodes to be watched. As Suzy Kalter points out in her book "The Complete Book of M*A*S*H", the production order was the result of logistical constraints. Entire shows and parts of episodes had to be filmed out of sequence based on the availability of the Fox Ranch which was not available all the time because the studio had given the property to the State of California as a State Park.Suzy Kalter, Complete Book of Mash (New York: H.N. Abrams Publishing, 1988), 29. The broadcast order more closely follows the intended storyline. References Category:M*A*S*H TV series seasons